Los Angeles – “Project Hail Mary” is bringing audiences to movie theaters in numbers the industry hasn’t seen for a non-franchise film since “Oppenheimer.” The science fiction epic starring Ryan Gosling earned around $80.5 million in ticket sales in its first weekend playing in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday. Box office tracker EntTelligence estimates that translates into about 5 million ticket buyers.
The PG-13 rated film opened on 4,007 screens and easily topped the domestic box office charts, surpassing expectations to become the biggest of the year and delivering a record opening for studio Amazon MGM, whose previous best was “Creed III” ($58 million in 2023). Not accounting for inflation, “Project Hail Mary” also scored the second biggest opening for a non-franchise movie behind only “Oppenheimer,” which opened to $82.4 million in 2023.
It’s now one of only three non-franchise movies in the past decade to open over $70 million (the third is Jordan Peele’s “Us” ). In the realm of modern space operas, it exceeded the debuts of “The Martian,” also an Andy Weir adaptation that opened around $54.3 million in 2015, “Gravity” ($55.6 million in 2013) and “Interstellar” ($47.5 million in 2014).
Internationally, “Project Hail Mary” earned $60.4 million from 82 markets, bringing its global total to $140.9 million.
“We all know theatrical is not an easy business. It’s tougher today I think than it’s ever been,” Kevin Wilson, Amazon MGM Studios’ head of domestic distribution, told The Associated Press on Sunday. “And sci-fi movies, to break out to a broad audience, is not the easiest thing to do.”
And yet the results of the weekend put them in “rarefied air” alongside “Oppenheimer,” which Wilson said is “certainly something special.” The film is playing broadly across the country with markets like Salt Lake City, Denver and Portland overindexing which, Wilson said, suggests that they’re getting some family audiences too.
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, “Project Hail Mary” cost about double the “Oppenheimer” production budget, with a price tag in the $200 million range. But it also carries strong reviews and audience scores and could be destined for a long run. According to PostTrak exit polls, where it scored five out of five stars, 83% of audiences said they would “definitely recommend” the film to friends. The gender breakdown skewed slightly more male (57%), and 55% of the audience were under 35.
In an era where the draw of movie stars is always in question, Wilson said, “It leaves no doubt that Ryan Gosling is a singular star that has the massive global appeal and charisma to anchor a story like this.”
The film is centered around Gosling’s character who wakes up alone and with little memory on a spaceship, where his apparent mission is to try to save the sun from dying. As has become the norm for “event” movies like “Project Hail Mary,” premium large format screens were in demand, making up 56% of the weekend’s gross. IMAX screens alone accounted for $27.6 million of the global total.
